Literary notes about unforgiving (AI summary)
In literature, "unforgiving" is employed to evoke a sense of relentless harshness and rigidity that permeates both characters and their environments. It often describes personalities marked by severe temperaments and an absence of leniency, as in the portrayal of an exacting husband or a cantankerous creature [1][2]. Moreover, the term underscores the implacable nature of the world or divine judgment, suggesting that nature, law, or fate can be as remorseless as they are uncompromising [3][4]. This consistent depiction helps authors accentuate the stark and sometimes brutal realities of human behavior and systemic authority, whether in interpersonal relationships [5] or broader cultural and historical narratives [6].
- Not altogether unforgiving was his wife to him.
— from The Golden Fleece and The Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum - It took me some time to learn how unforgiving and cantankerous an extinct bird can be.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - I am weary of this slandering-this unforgiving world.
— from Justice in the By-Ways, a Tale of Life by F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams - No—men unborn, and ages yet behind, Shall curse that fierce, that unforgiving mind.
— from The Iliad by Homer - "That is the most unforgiving speech," said Elizabeth, "that I ever heard you utter.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - But his unforgiving temper, stimulated by avarice, indulged a spirit of revenge, where there was no room for apprehension.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
